by JetBoy
(This is a slightly-rewritten version of a blog post I did several years ago… but as it’s still very much relevant today, I’m electing to run it again. It’s not at all erotic, but very heartfelt, and it only runs for a few paragraphs, so please indulge us and read the thing.)
I’d like to bring up a subject that is very near and dear to us folks who run Juicy Secrets: your comments and feedback, and how crucially important it is to us — and this site.
First, a few words about what goes into making Juicy Secrets what it is.
Without even asking, I can speak for all of us in saying that the running of this site is a genuine labor of love. Read our first-year anniversary blog post to get an inkling of the satisfaction and outright joy we’ve derived from planning Juicy Secrets, bringing it to life and watching it grow.
But when you click onto our link and navigate around the site, exploring its nooks and crannies, what you’re seeing is the result of work. A lot of work. Adding new posts and stories (which often includes considerable reformatting from the original source), hunting for thrilling images to accompany them, making necessary changes to the site pages to present and catalogue these posts, editing and proofreading work for our guest authors, penning notes and comments for each other’s writing, composing critiques, both positive and critical, for submitted stories (even the ones that don’t make the cut), trawling through the internet’s vast repository of lesbian fiction for stories to add to our archive, etc.
Not to mention writing our own stories, which requires a heaping helping of time in itself.
Needless to say, we don’t make a cent doing this. Actually, it’s not even possible to make a living by offering the kind of fiction that we do. I’d estimate that ninety-eight percent of our content consists of stories that no publisher (actual or virtual) would touch with a ten-foot pole — and the lion’s share of them wouldn’t be accepted by any of the big erotica sites, either.
Which brings us to the million-dollar question: why do we do this? Well, there’s the pride we feel at having created Juicy Secrets, and the security of having a safe space for our work. But there’s also the enormous pleasure of having that work noticed and acknowledged, particularly in the words of praise and the thoughtful comments that some of you are kind enough to leave after you read.
It’s hard to describe just how good it feels, that giddy surge of delight that we experience when a reader compliments our writing. It’s a friendly pat on the back, an assuring smile, a hug of encouragement that tells us our work has value — and all the time, effort and yes, occasional frustration that went into it was worthwhile. The warm regard of an audience is a better high than any drug, no question.
On the other hand, it’s a major downer to pay a visit to a recently posted story, one that you put your heart and soul into, and find no more than a single comment, or nothing at all. I’ve known authors of erotic stories — good erotic stories — who’ve simply abandoned their craft in defeat, convinced that barely anyone gives a damn about their work.
Don’t misunderstand, dear readers — your Boy Author is not throwing a woe-unto-us pity party here. My cohorts and I derive a great deal of satisfaction from doing what we do. But your comments add so much to that satisfaction that I’m willing to put aside my pride — indeed, even my dignity! — to plead with you good people: spare a thought for us when you especially enjoy reading a Juicy Secrets story, and leave a comment.
It’s not just the praise that sustains us, mind you… we also appreciate criticism, when you feel it’s warranted, and it’s always helpful when you let us know about mistakes you catch in our work. We’re always striving to do our work a little better, and your careful scrutiny makes that possible.
It should be added here that, much as we crave your praise, it’s even more important that you leave comments for our guest authors. Doing so will increase the likelihood that they’ll continue to write — a winning situation for both Juicy Secrets and its readers!
One final point: we are not — emphatically not — asking anyone to offer praise for our work if we haven’t earned it. As the great comedian Flip Wilson once said, “If you didn’t intend to applaud, don’t applaud. Keep your damn hands to yourself!” On the other hand, if the story moved your soul, got you feeling warm and tingly all over, or spurred you into a “happy ending” of your own… why not take sixty seconds out of your life to tell us so? Thirty seconds, even. Hell, you can type “Great story!” in less than ten. And it honestly does mean the world to us.
Thanks for indulging my shameless pandering, and for being a part of this site’s extended family. (You must be, if you’ve read this far.) May the road always rise with you.
Love always, JetBoy